Guide to Providing Mass Transit Incentives

Get educated

It will be hard to pry the steering wheels from the fingers of your die-hard drivers. Convince them slowly with common-sense statistics and usable information.

I recommend: There are a number of advocacy groups on the Web, including the American Public Transportation Association, which has a great map link to transit systems around the country, and public interest research group Center for Transportation Excellence.

The government wants you to ditch the car

It's a less-known tax rule, but workers can take money out of their paycheck pre-tax to pay for transit costs.

I recommend: It's deep down in the IRS manual, but your local transit system will have plenty of information on how to implement a subsidized mass transit program for your employees. See a summary of employer benefits at the government affairs page of the APTA, and then go to  CommuterChoice to find detailed program information by major U.S. metro.

Set up an employer-based ride share program

If buses are unreliable and trains non-existent, you can offer your employees access to shared rides through the Web.

I recommend: Most major transit systems have carpool and vanpool programs, but you can also join NuRide, a Web site that matches potential ride shares. Another option in big cities is Flexcar, which goes the other way: Most participants do not own cars and instead occasionally use cars in common. If this all seems wacky, show your employees their annual cost of commuting the old-fashioned way using this RideWorks calculator.

Use your enlightened transit policy to recruit

Over and over, salary is shown to be the worst motivator for most workers. Knowing they work for a progressive company, one that thinks to provide non-cash benefits like transit assistance, can do a lot when it comes to retaining key employees.

I recommend: Once you have a transit program in place, get it recognized by Best Workplaces for Commuters, a U.S. government sponsored program that rates commuting policies of employers. The site has tons of resources, like emissions and cost-saving calculators, too.